Charterhouse Said to Arrange $2.7 Billion of Debt for Elior Sale

Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Charterhouse Capital Partners LLP
has arranged financing of more than 2 billion euros ($2.7
billion) to attract bidders for Elior SCA, the French catering
company it’s seeking to sell, according to three people with
knowledge of the matter.

Credit Agricole SA, HSBC Holdings Plc, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
and Nomura Holdings Inc. are offering the so-called staple
financing, said the people, who asked not to be identified
because the deal is private. The package includes bank debt as
well as senior secured and subordinated bonds, they said.

Staple financing helps a sales process by showing bidders
an estimate of how much debt the deal can draw, the type of
financing available and the banks willing to lend.

Private-equity company Charterhouse hired Rothschild, HSBC
and Credit Agricole to sell Elior’s catering division in
November seeking to raise more than 2 billion euros, people said
at the time. CVC Capital Partners Ltd. and BC Partners Holdings
Ltd. are preparing a joint 3.5 billion-euro bid for the entire
company, the Financial Times reported yesterday.

Gary Sunderland, head of information resources at London-based Charterhouse, declined to comment. Rosanna Konarzewski, a
BC Partners spokeswoman, and Ed Moore, a CVC spokesman, also
declined to comment.

Charterhouse owns 62 percent of the company that controls
Paris-based Elior, according to its website, while Elior co-founder Robert Zolade controls about 25 percent. Chequers
Capital funds own about 8 percent.

Charterhouse was among a group of investors that paid 2.5
billion euros in 2006 for the business. Credit Agricole, Morgan
Stanley and the bank then known as Merrill Lynch & Co. led
lenders in providing about 2 billion euros of leveraged loans to
back the 2006 buyout, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Some of the debt was extended last year.